


Five-finger Discount

by Tallulah



Category: Battle Royale - All Media Types
Genre: Gen, Grief/Mourning, Shoplifting, Unhealthy Coping Mechanisms
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-12-31
Updated: 2020-12-31
Packaged: 2021-03-11 01:54:19
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 502
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28457139
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Tallulah/pseuds/Tallulah
Summary: Shinji went through a stupid phase, like many kids do.
Kudos: 5
Collections: 12 Days of Christmas Challenge 2020





	Five-finger Discount

**Author's Note:**

> Written for the 12 Days of Christmas challenge 2020, prompt "six full backpacks".

Shinji went through a shoplifting phase. Like a lot of kids do, right? Okay, some of them don’t grow out of it, but then it’s not so much a phase as that they’re pinching stuff they actually _want_. Like Souma and her friends joking about how they forgot you need to buy lipstick. Or idiots like Kiriyama’s goon squad, who see stuff they want and shove it in a backpack bulging with ill-gotten gains and are surprised when they get caught. No, Shinji’s foray into the world of petty crime was a lot more pointless. Kind of the reason he stopped doing it. Kind of the reason he hasn’t told anyone. It isn’t like he’s ashamed of the actual theft part. He doesn’t think applying the old five-finger discount to cheap stationery and cans of soft drink is a big deal, in the grand scheme of things. More like... everyone goes through stupid phases, and then when you’re out of them, the best thing to do is to try and pretend they never happened, right?

It was after Uncle died. Which is another reason he’s not telling anyone, they’d be like, _oh, was it a grief thing?_ One of Shinji’s key priorities in life is not to have a conversation about grieving. And besides, it probably wasn’t. He was upset about Uncle dying, obviously, and he worked through the feelings, what there was of them (grief isn’t being _sad_ and _crying_ , it’s feeling like someone punched you just under the ribs, or like you just woke up. Or it’s wanting to cry when you don’t even feel sad. It’s empty and stupid and felt like a huge waste of mental effort). 

The stealing stuff was only… wanting to see if he could do it. Which doesn’t sound much better, as a motivation. Because if you don’t look like a delinquent and you don’t sneak in wearing a massive coat and look around shiftily and pull a scarf over your face, it’s not that difficult to get away with it, so there’s nothing to be proud of. Sleight of hand and acting natural and avoiding loitering or going back to the same place too many times. Like, _well done. Truly a criminal mastermind in the making here._ And… it wasn’t like he got much out of it. You get a tricky piece of code to work, particularly if it’s to do something the powers that be would rather you didn’t; or you make the shot and win the game; or even, god, you do better on a maths test than you thought you would, you feel some elation, you punch the air, you at least smile a bit. Walking out of a shop, acting natural, and not taking your ill-gotten gains out of your pockets til you’re well away from it… it didn’t feel much of anything. It was just something that had happened. 

It felt stupid. Or, it does now, looking back on it. 

Yeah, no need to let anyone else know.


End file.
